Neighborhood Design Research Articles

Predicting walking-to-work using street-level imagery and deep learning in seven Canadian cities

New ‘big data’ streams such as street-level imagery are offering unprecedented possibilities for developing health-relevant data on the urban environment. Urban environmental features derived from street-level imagery have been used to assess pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood design and to predict active commuting, but few such studies have been conducted in Canada. Using 1.15 million Google Street View (GSV) images in seven Canadian cities, we applied image segmentation and object detection computer vision methods to extract data on persons, bicycles, buildings, sidewalks, open sky (without trees or buildings), and vegetation at postal codes. The associations between urban features and walk-to-work rates obtained from the Canadian Census were assessed. We also assessed how GSV-derived urban features perform in predicting walk-to-work rates relative to more widely used walkability measures. Results showed that features derived from street-level images are better able to predict the percent of people walking to work as their primary mode of transportation compared to data derived from traditional walkability metrics. Given the increasing coverage of street-level imagery around the world, there is considerable potential for machine learning and computer vision to help researchers study patterns of active transportation and other health-related behaviours and exposures.

Identifying Potential Indicators of Neighbourhood Solar Access in Urban Planning

Solar access describes the capacity of urban spaces to receive sunlight and daylight. Rapid urbanization and unbridled densification pose a threat to sustainable solar access, reducing the penetration of sunlight and daylight into cities. To effectively assess solar access at such an early design stage, at the urban planning level, it is critical that evaluation metrics are simple and reliable. This paper examines a cross section of solar metrics, from simple to more complex ones, to find potential solar performance indicators for urban planning evaluations. The metric datasets were created based on iterations of homogeneous neighbourhood designs, based on the three commonest typologies in the Swedish context: courtyard, slab, and tower. The results were validated using case studies sampled from districts of Malmö. The findings indicate that simple geometrical and latitudinal metrics may be suitable for assessing the solar access of urban designs due to high correlation with built density. Potential performance indicators aimed at indoor and outdoor evaluation of daylighting (VSC, SVF) and sunlighting (ASH_F, RD_G) in urban planning stages were suggested. Possible methods of applying the provided metric database into assessments were proposed. Future work should find evidence-based thresholds for the metric values to establish performance benchmarks.

Parameters of the Infrastructure of the Residential Area and Their Relationship with Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Aim. This study determined the level of public satisfaction with neighborhood design features in Kemerovo Oblast and their connection to cardiovascular disease risk factors.Subjects and methods. The study population included 1,598 respondents aged between 35 and 70, with 491 living in rural areas and others living in Kemerovo (1,221 women and 477 men). The assessment of neighborhood environment was done according to residents' subjective opinions about infrastructural features (the Neighborhood Environmental Walkability Scale). Depending on how participants responded to the questionnaire, some of these parameters were identified as adverse.Results. The residents of Kemerovo and rural areas of Kemerovo Oblast identified the following neighborhood design features as adverse: the lack of interesting places in neighborhood environment, the remote location of parks and restaurants, the absence of pavement, busy traffic, and a long distance between home and workplace. In the city, arterial hypertension prevalence was high among men, when grocery, fruit and clothing stores were distant, and among women, when banks, public transport stops were distant and the traffic was heavy. Lipid metabolism disorders were more common among women in urban areas, when there were no interesting places around. Obesity prevalence was high among urban female population, when the following adverse factors were present: the remote location of grocery stores, fruit stores, bank, pharmacy and public transport stops and the absence of pavement. Among rural male population, this risk factor was common when there were no pavements. The highest rate of carbohydrate metabolism disorders was found among women living in villages where the traffic is heavy and public transport stops are far away.Conclusion. The impact of infrastructure on the health status of the living population is a new direction of scientific research. Epidemiological studies in different geographic areas and population groups show significant differences in health status, morbidity and mortality from chronic noncommunicable diseases. To reduce the risks of developing diseases of the cardiovascular system, the formation of a socially comfortable health-saving environment is of great importance.

Socio-Economic Background of Households and the implication for Housing Choices in Urban Ghana

This study examines the linkages between the socio-economic background of households and their housingchoices in the urban enclaves of Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 900 participantsfrom the study areas. Questionnaire was used to glean data from the participants. Pearson correlation andmultinomial logistic regression were used to estimate the level of association between socio-economiccharacteristics of households and their housing choices. The study found that the choice of housing type wassignificantly associated with sex (χ2=56.004, p<0.001), education level (χ2=238.895, p<0.001), marital status(χ2=28.871, p<0.001), occupation (χ2=202.110, p<0.001), monthly income (χ2=275.682, p<0.001), locationof household (χ2=46.112, p<0.001) but not household size (χ2=18.642, p=0.42), age (χ2=10.229, p=0.113)and religion (χ2=10.361, p=0.110) of the household head. The multinomial logistic regression estimates thathousehold heads with no formal education compared to household heads with master degree are .055(p<.001) times less likely to live in a detached/semi-detached house compared to compound house. The studyreiterates the importance of having an informed policy on neighbourhood design and development,particularly when designing houses for people of particular socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Düşük Trafikli Mahalle Tasarımı İçin Planlanmış Davranış Teorisi’nin ve Zaman Coğrafyası ile Sentezinin İncelenmesi

This article presents an evaluation of the contribution of the synthesis of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with Time Geography to the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) design stages. In the LTN design scheme, the evaluation of the human factor has importance at all stages of the design. However, the LTN design is currently based on stakeholder meetings, verbal statements and maps created with stakeholders in general. Social psychology, which includes concepts and theories to understand complex human behaviour, has been used in many transportation studies. TPB, one of the most well-known theories on this subject, its contributions to transportation studies and its primary deficiencies were identified within the article. It has been evaluated that the lack of spatial and temporal scope, one of these primary deficiencies, can be eliminated by synthesizing the Time Geography approach. As a result, this synthesis has the potential to increase the effects of the LTN design by integrating TPB, which has the potential to provide a basis for guiding people's behaviour, and Time Geography, which can reflect its spatial and temporal projection, in each of the stages of LTN design namely street classification, determination of neighbourhood boundaries, prioritization of neighbourhoods and determination of measures.

Life cycle assessment of radioactive materials from a residential neighbourhood

This study was carried out, with the as main purpose to evaluate the impacts of the energy mix on the radioactive material generated by a residential neighbourhood. To achieve this objective, the same neighbourhood design is applied in 150 countries, but four parameters are adapted to each country: energy mix, local climate, building materials and occupants' mobility. In addition, this research evaluates the induced radioactive material of the neighbourhood over a life cycle of 100 years and examines the impact of mobility and photovoltaic panel on this environmental impact. This environmental impact was evaluated by the Pleiades ACV simulation software under four phases (construction, use, renovation, and demolition). Among the four local parameters (energy mix, local materials, climate, and transport), the energy mix has the most significant effect on the radioactive material. The results show that the countries having a higher concentration of nuclear sources have higher radioactivity waste than others. The implementation of the new scenario of photovoltaic allows reducing the 10% of radioactivity waste. Globally, 26.8% and 37.1% of radioactivity waste were produced by electricity and building materials, respectively.

A Study on Landscape VR Design of Special Neighborhood Based on Traditional Culture

The characteristic neighborhoods with traditional culture fully reflect the city’s history and culture while carrying urban life. The essence of the regional culture is transformed into the unique symbolic elements of the city. The focuses of landscape renovation design of characteristic neighborhoods are to refine regional cultural symbols, maintain the spirit of neighborhood places, carry forward historical and traditional cultural characteristics, and enhance people’s perception of traditional culture through scientific and systematic organization and planning. This paper fuses virtual objects with real entities. This technology is aimed at providing a brand-new transformation method for construction personnel in the digital transformation of IoTs. From the perspective of the construction site application of the entire landscape design, in the process of continuous development and testing of the software, it provides a large key technology research, which provides the key for the actual construction use requirements and related technical requirements of virtual reality technology. This paper mainly analyzes the main application of virtual reality and IOTs in the digital transformation of IoTs.

Baltimore and the Neighborhood Design Center. Participatory approaches to urban design under conditions of urban shrinkage (1968–2000)

ABSTRACT In the fall of 1968, as the city of Baltimore endured urban shrinkage, a group of architects founded the Neighborhood Design Center, a non-profit organization providing design services for disadvantaged communities, still active today. This paper, framed theoretically against the backdrop of participation models developed in the social sciences and the field of community design, argues that the NDC’s approach to urban planning and design constitutes a successful example of participatory methodology but presents important shortcomings when evaluating the impacts of their projects in the current urban environment, with little to nonexistent traces of them.

Determining People s Design Priorities for Neighbourhood Units: A Study in Liverpool, Merseyside

Local planning authorities and developers aim at designing and regenerating neighbourhoods in which people want to live. However, this aim is difficult to achieve if participation is conducted poorly. As a result, people may live in places that are created according to the ideas of designers and the priorities of market conditions and not according to their own. Therefore, determining people's preferences is essential for livable and sustainable neighbourhood design. This paper introduces and tests a method for determining people's design preferences, namely an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. The method is based on making pairwise comparisons of key design principles and structural factors of neighbourhood units. The testing was conducted in Liverpool city centre. Here, it was established that participants' priorities in neighbourhood design are safety, affordable housing and accessibility, respectively. Also, participants prefer to live in non-gated detached and semi-detached housing communities. This article offers an empirical contribution to the participatory neighbourhood planning literature.

Enhancing Sharing Capabilities

The global COVID-19 pandemic has led households to find creative ways to share resources to address isolation, stress, and anxiety. We build on these social experiments to suggest that sharing in housing and neighborhoods can lead to better mental health and wellbeing. The capabilities approach, popularized by philosophers Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, provides a theoretical perspective for integrating sharing options into housing and neighborhood design, regulation, and investment. We offer a framework delineating dimensions of sharing that has the potential to encourage more sharing and shift planning emphasis from housing as an outcome to one that promotes sharing.

Residents' Socio-Economic Characteristics and Types of Gated Communities as Significant Determinants of Neighbourhood Safety in Ibadan, Nigeria

This study examined the residents’ socio-economic characteristics, types of gated communities, and the perception of safety in Ibadan, Nigeria. A questionnaire survey method and a direct observation schedule checklist were used to obtain the primary data. Thirty gated communities (GCs) indicating almost half of the 57 GCs were evaluated. Of 4922 units in the study areas, 493 samples, signifying 10% were appraised using a systematic sampling technique. Information was obtained from components of resident socio-economic characteristics and physical characteristics of neighbourhoods, which include: surveillance, territoriality, image and milieu, physical and design condition, experiences and social capital. The study used a Likert scale of 1 to 5 that started from very poor to excellent to measure elements of the Perception of Safety Index (PSI). The data obtained were evaluated using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result shows the levels and pattern of criminal activities in the study areas and identifies methods used by residents to curb the trend which comprises: enclosed neighbourhoods and gated communities. Others include vigilantes, community patrol, corporate guards or private security, putting in place closed circuit television (CCTV), jungle justice and mob action. This study showed that age, GC type, and the last time residents experienced an attack among others were related significantly to the perception of safety (p < 0.05). The analysis yielded p-values of 0.023, 0.005 and 0.001 respectively. The study resolved that the safety requirements of neighbourhoods varied, wide-ranging and comprehensive. The pathways for making improvements included: crime prevention through environmental design, social interaction, surveillance and improvement in the concepts of neighbourhood design, surveillance, territoriality, image and milieu.

Learning-Based Model for Evaluating the Impact of Neighborhood Design on Travel Behavior

This research developed an agent-based model that evaluates the impact of neighborhood design on travel behavior while accounting for habit formation, social interactions, various levels of information provision, and awareness of transport and land use system changes. The developed model employs a framework that integrates random utility maximization theory with reinforcement learning concepts to account for the bounded rationality and knowledge learning process. Moreover, the model utilizes the diffusions of innovations theory to simulate how agents propagate information across family members and co-workers. It also adds a time dimension to the modal shift process, which could be used to indicate the relative duration to reap the full benefits of proposed scenarios. The model was applied to a neighborhood in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, to assess the impact on travel behavior of the SMARTer growth principles. The results showed that retrofitting non-motorized networks has more impact on modal shift than retrofitting road networks. This implies that infrastructure investments related to providing more accessibility for non-motorized users may be more socially and sustainably profitable than investments in policies targeting auto users. In addition, the results revealed that land use policies led to higher modal shift to non-motorized modes compared to retrofitting the transportation network, which highlights the importance of integrating land use and transportation planning. Similarly, the results demonstrated that transportation demand management policies can provide a positive stimulus to commuters to maintain familiarity with active transportation (AT) modes, which led in the presented case study to an increase in AT modal share.

Neighborhood environments and inclusive cities: An empirical study of local residents’ attitudes toward migrant social integration in Beijing, China

Worldwide countries face growing challenges of social inclusion amid the massive influx of migrant populations into large cities. Planning scholars have long been intrigued by the role of the physical design of urban neighborhoods in fostering a cohesive and inclusive urban society. However, empirical research on the effects of public spaces on promoting intergroup solidarity and inclusion has been less systematic and produced far less conclusive findings. Using Beijing, China, as a case study, this research contributed to this ongoing debate with an empirical investigation of the extent to which neighborhood physical environment – specifically, accessibility to different types of urban public spaces -- contributes to a more positive attitude among native residents toward migrant social inclusion through fostering more frequent neighborly social interaction. Based on a large-scale survey conducted in 2017, we adopted structural equation modeling analysis and found more significant effects of accessibility to quasi-public spaces than typical public spaces in promoting both neighborly interactions and inclusiveness attitudes. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications for the role of neighborhood physical environment in the pursuit of building inclusive cities.

Health impacts of nonmotorized travel behavior and the built environment: Evidence from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey

IntroductionThe health impacts of nonmotorized travel behavior (i.e., walking and bicycling) and the built environment have been widely investigated in the past. However, nationwide studies probing the association between the neighborhood built environment and individuals' nonmotorized travel and health status remain scarce. Utilizing national-level databases from the U.S., the present study examines the role of nonmotorized travel and neighborhood-level built environment attributes in residents’ self-assessed overall health status. MethodsThis research relies on data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey and employs ordered probit modeling techniques to relate self-assessed overall health status to various variables representing the extent of nonmotorized travel and physical activity as well as the built and social environment attributes of the residential location. ResultsThe results indicate that individuals’ self-assessed health status is associated with i) their person-level attributes including the levels of their walking and bicycling travel and other physical activity; ii) the social environment attributes of both their household and their residential neighborhood including income and vehicle ownership levels; and iii) the built environment attributes of their neighborhood including the extent of: compactness, mixed-use development, transit accessibility, and automobile-friendliness of the road network within the neighborhood. Furthermore, average marginal effects computations indicate that the most important neighborhood built environment factor in increasing the likelihood of reporting a very good or excellent health status is higher levels of transit accessibility. ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest that more effective policies to promote individuals' health through changes targeting their travel behavior and their neighborhood's built environment may be the ones that: a) encourage walking and bicycling travel, and b) foster neighborhood designs that support more active lifestyles through increased levels of transit accessibility, activity density, and land use diversity, as well as through decreased levels of automobile-friendliness of the street network.

Compact cities and the Covid-19 pandemic: Systematic review of the associations between transmission of Covid-19 or other respiratory viruses and population density or other features of neighbourhood design.

Living in compact neighbourhoods that are walkable, well connected, with accessible green space can benefit physical and mental health. However, the pandemic raises concern up to what extent features of compact neighbourhood design affect transmission of viral respiratory infections. We conducted a systematic review to identify, appraise and synthesise evidence reporting associations between transmission of respiratory viruses, including Covid-19, and dwelling or population density or other features of neighbourhood design. Twenty-one studies met our inclusion criteria. These studies used different measures of neighbourhood design, contributing to inconsistent findings. Whereas no convincing conclusion can be drawn here, the outcome of this review indicates that robust, global evidence is warranted to inform future policies and legislation concerned with compact neighbourhood design and transmission of respiratory and viral infection.

Towards a LCA Database for the Planning and Design of Zero-Emissions Neighborhoods

The integration of science-based knowledge on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into practice-based neighborhood design and planning is key to inform and implement climate mitigation strategies. LCA is a method that is commonly used to provide objective and science-based information on the environmental impacts of specified systems or products. To use a LCA methodology at neighborhood scale is in turn dependent on the development of a common structure for life cycle inventory data. Such a LCA database does not operate on its own, but functions as a structured source of relevant high-quality data inputs linked to other different analytical tools. The aim of this study is to analyze the needs and requirements and provide a foundation for a LCA database at neighborhood scale that can provide users with an interface to find and access life cycle data in the users’ preferred format. The result of this study is the outline of the foundations of a user-centric LCA database for neighborhoods, including several sub-systems (buildings, infrastructure, mobility, and energy supply). Recommendations are given in the Conclusions Section to provide harmonized decision support on reducing GHG emissions at local levels in the planning and design of urban development projects at the neighborhood scale.

Evaluating well-being in low-income mass housing in India with specific reference to natural ventilation

ABSTRACT The social well-being and health of the occupants of low-income housing depends not just on improved infrastructure and security of tenure but also on neighbourhood and apartment design characteristics. This study compares 14 best-practice habitat design models for low-income mass housing in nine Indian states, with Dharavi slum and slum rehabs in Mumbai paying particular attention to the drivers of natural ventilation which impacts the spread of airborne and aerosol-borne diseases and thermal comfort amongst other drivers of occupant health and subjective well-being. Simulations of neighbourhood and indoor airflow reveal the significance of built-environment parameters that should serve as prerequisites for well-being in low-income mass housing in forthcoming slum rehab housing planning.

Algiers as a Paradigmatic Mediterranean City: El Houma as a Measure of Urban Life

With cities accommodating a growing share of the global population, they are exposed to rapid rates of globalisation and urbanisation that present a significant challenge to their capacity to satisfy people’s needs and aspirations and promote urban life. A thorough understanding of how urban forms can promote or hinder urban life has never been more pertinent. This paper contributes to filling this gap by analysing urban form features and synthesising theoretical and empirical evidence on how the physical design of neighbourhoods promotes or hinders urban life. This paper takes Algiers as a paradigmatic case study to explore the relationship between urban form and urban life in the Mediterranean region. It argues that urban form is a factor in facilitating social activities. The paper will base its investigation on the concept of El Houma, which can provide an effective instrument to measure urban life. El Houma is a term used in Algeria to describe a neighbourhood or an urban area characterised by a strong degree of social sustainability, based on the local socio-cultural life of residents manifested in the social use of urban space. In this respect, the paper will review features of three urban planning movements: medieval urbanism, the 19th-century bourgeois city and modernism. The research will draw on urban morphological analysis and techniques of activity mapping to investigate the relationship between urban forms and urban life, illustrated in El Houma, in three different neighbourhoods that represent the three urban planning strands. The paper concludes that the intensity of El Houma is high in the medieval and 19th-century neighbourhoods due to features of urban forms that foster social use of space, and lower in modernist neighbourhoods due to the lack of appropriate spaces for social interaction and forming social relations between residents. Findings indicate that urban form has a major influence on social use of space, urban life and thus El Houma.

“You and Your Neighborhood”: Neighborhood, Community, and Democracy as New Paradigms in Wartime American Architecture

This article argues that a radical reconceptualization of the notion of neighborhood was introduced by architects in the United States during WWII in response to the new political, cultural, and economic conditions of the war. The efforts of architects and planners like Oskar Stonorov and Louis Kahn contributed to reconfiguring the organizational principle of the “neighborhood unit” model envisioned by Clarence Perry during the 1920s, transferring the discourse from the domain of urban sociology and technical planning to the realm of the American profession. This article revolves around the unexplored and intense period of architectural experimentation during WWII, when the neighborhood emerged as a vibrant platform for the efforts of professional circles to question the values of American democracy and introduce new participative practices in neighborhood and community design, fostering new forms of collaboration between citizens, governmental agencies, and speculative builders under the leadership of architects. Neighborhood design appeared as the testing ground to renegotiate the role and social responsibility of American architects and a foundational value of post-war American society, while its new meanings were to be renegotiated in post-war city planning and built communities.

Does neighborhood design matter for walk access to metro stations? An integrated SEM-Hybrid discrete mode choice approach

This study explores effects of various subjective and objective built environment (BE) factors on access mode choice to Metro stations. Personal interview surveys were conducted among 600 Metro users from catchment area of Metro stations in Delhi, India to collect information regarding their socio-economic status, access travel characteristics, and degree of satisfaction on twenty microscale BE factors related to walking environment. Secondary data on mesoscale factors such as population- and employment-density and land-use diversity were also collected. Exploratory factor analysis on microscale factors yielded a four-factor solution, i.e., Comfort, Safety & Security, Traffic, and Mobility which is confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. These four factors were utilized to derive an endogenous variable “Neighborhood Design”. Four access mode choice models were developed subsequently using hybrid discrete choice models taking Neighborhood Design as walkability measure. The results indicated that Neighborhood Design, population, and land-use densities affect mode choice positively and significantly. The research indicates that improving microscale Neighborhood Design and certain mesoscale factors within catchment areas of stations could influence the peoples’ choice of walking to the stations. Sensitivity analysis also shows that improvement in the neighborhood design attributes will lead to a higher share of walk access to metro stations.